Tuesday, May 10, 2016

Saudi Arabia Appoints A New Minister Of Health

#11,354

Until the emergence and entrenchment of MERS-CoV on the Arabian peninsula, the position of Saudi Minister of Health was a remarkably stable one. Between 1950 and 2009, there were only two Health Ministers.

But Dr. Abdullah Al-Rabiah - who became MOH in 2009 - was abruptly replacedby Saudi Minister of Labor Adel Faqi in the spring of 2014, presumably over his inability to get a handle on the Saudi's growing MERS problem.

Since then we've seen a revolving door at the MOH, with five Health Ministers over the past two years:

Dr. Mohammad Al Hayaza April 2014 - January 2015

Ahmed Al-Khatib January 2015 - April 2015

Mohamad Al ash-Sheikh April 2015 - April 2015

Eng. Khalid Alfalih April 2015 – May 2016

Over the weekend it was announced that longtime Saudi Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi would be replaced by Health Minister Alfalih, and that Dr. Tawfiq bin Fawzan bin Muhammad Al-Rabiah - the Saudi Minister of Commerce and Industry - would take his place.

Al-Rabiah is the 7th person to hold the office in just over 25 months, and will face far more challenges than just keeping the lid on MERS.

Below you'll find theRoyal Decree appointing Al-Rabiah, followed by a link to a Saudi Gazette article on his background and the challenges he will face.

Given that the Saudi MOH is the one government agency with the best chance of containing the MERS Coronavirus, the fact that it finds itself under new management for the 7th time in just over two years is an obvious concern.

We've seen fewer large MERS outbreaks in the past 8 months, and improvements in the MOH's surveillance and reporting.